Caring For Old Dogs

Part One Of Two Parts

- Richard Ramos

My mother, Chit Ramos, breeds Shih Tzus for a living, and, as can be expected, we’ve had our share of old dogs. What makes my mother somewhat unusual among breeders is that she doesn’t believe in a strict business model for running her kennel. For her, if you want dogs with good disposition, health, and intelligence, you simply can’t keep them in cages unless you have a good reason. They should be treated as part of your family.

And so it is that while some people are surprised that there are so many dogs in our house—16 at last count, and we’re adding new ones for the next generation—we treat our dogs as part of our family. Even though we have our own formal kennel name, Shadoogie, our actual dog area is our whole house, so that our dogs are house-trained.

Like all families, we have our senior citizens. In the case of our dogs, we simply don’t allow the females to breed beyond a certain age. It’s not good for the dog’s health, and neither is it good for the quality of the puppies that she will give birth to. At that point, we let the older dogs be, to live a relaxed life at home.

So, how do we take care of old dogs? Currently, we have two “lola” dogs in the house: Georgie, and her mother Bambie, who are 9 and 13 years old, respectively. We used to have more senior dogs, but my mother (a breeder) allowed them to be adopted. (More on that later.)

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